INTERVIEW-Tennis-Reuters Q & A-Federer the pied piper of Wimbledon

June 23, 2012|Reuters

(Repeats interview first moved on Saturday at 1907 GMT)

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - Roger Federer has not won agrand slam title for almost 30 months and is no longer theworld's top-ranked player, yet when it comes to pulling power heremains the number one attraction at Wimbledon.

The moment the casually-dressed 16-times grand slam championsauntered on to the players' terrace on Saturday he looked likethe pied piper of Wimbledon.

His every move was shadowed by dozens of young and oldautograph hunters and a host of media representatives.

Even high-profile former players jostled for space in thescrum surrounding Federer, who in two weeks' time could drawlevel with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw's record of sevenmen's titles at the All England Club.

Also present on Saturday was the current King of Wimbledon,Novak Djokovic, and Britain's heir apparent, Andy Murray, butthey were barely given a second glance by the throng who simplywanted to rub shoulders with a player who has long been dubbed"the ultimate tennis god".

When a young boy adoringly looked up to Federer and said 'Iwant to be as god, sorry, as good as you,' the amused Swissruffled the fan's hair and asked 'How good are you now?'.

Once he had satisfied the masses, Federer escaped to anunderground bunker at the All England Club to talk to Reutersabout playing in the golden era of tennis, his chances ofwinning his first singles gold medal when Wimbledon hosts theOlympics tennis event next month and about being bestowedhonours outside his sport.

REUTERS: A lot of players feel privileged but unlucky thattheir careers have coincided with this current generation at thetop. Do you feel lucky or unlucky to have played in this era?

FEDERER: "Do I feel lucky? I feel lucky that I've had such awonderful career because I never thought it would be thatincredible. But then again would I have had more success thanlet's say if a (Lleyton) Hewitt, if a Rafa (Nadal), if a Novak(Djokovic), if a (Marat) Safin would not have been around? Idon't know.

"I believe then someone else would have been around whowould have beaten me as many times. I think the other guys seeit the same. If I wouldn't have been around then there wouldhave been another great player like me around. So you just gowith it and draw inspiration from those that make you workharder and you try to become the best you can be."

REUTERS: Had Rafa's career not coincided with yours, youprobably would have won another four or five French Open titlesand your total tally might have been around 23 or more - haveyou wondered about that?

FEDERER: "Honestly I haven't thought about it too much. I'veenjoyed my rivalry with him. Some losses have been tough againsthim but it makes the victories a bit sweeter as well(especially) when you do beat someone who you have lost manytimes against. Like for me in the beginning (David) Nalbandianand (Tim) Henman and (Andre) Agassi and Hewitt and so forth.

"If you are able to turn around a win-loss record or if youare able to come out of a tough place and adjust your game andend up beating that person, that's also important for the mindand the player you are."

REUTERS: This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win atWimbledon twice in a month. Does that reduce or increase thepressure?

FEDERER: "It takes it away because you get two shots at it.But obviously the Olympics is only every four years so thatcreates a lot of pressure. I've been there already three timesso I think that's going to help me out.

"It's also going to help me out that I've actually won anOlympic gold already in doubles (in 2008). Whereas people think'you have to win this one and there's a lot of pressure on you'.I see it another way and I'm not just saying this to getpressure off my back. I can handle any pressure really.

"I would think it's an advantage to have two (events atWimbledon) in the space of a month. I think it's a big advantagefor the one who can actually win Wimbledon or the one who canplay finals as well as semis. That means they already have somany matches on grass, they know exactly how Wimbledon plays,particularly at the back-end of the tournament.

"Then going into the beginning of the Olympics will besomewhat similar (but also) ... so different. The best of threeset tennis early on in the Olympics is going to push the marginsand it's going to make it smaller and more difficult to dominatethe field."

REUTERS: You will have the opportunity over the next monthof playing best of five sets at Wimbledon and then best of threesets at the Olympics. Which do you think will be more to youradvantage and why?

FEDERER: "I always think best of five is an advantage forthe top players because a spell of two or five bad minutes or adouble fault or stupid shot or a bad miss could cost you thematch in a best of three set match on grass."

REUTERS: What are your plans for the two to three weeksbetween Wimbledon and the Olympics?